How Franz Wagner’s ‘Movie Moment’ Outperformed AD LeBron in Magic’s Win Over the Lakers

It was an ending made for Hollywood.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis showed off their best closing moves, scoring the final 23 points of the fourth quarter for the Los Angeles Lakers. But when the Hall of Famers missed four of their last six free throws, they left the door open for another star.

Franz Wagner, who gave the Orlando Magic their best victory of the season, 119-118, with his three-pointer with 2.5 seconds left, entered the game.

“It was a huge deal,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “They missed the free throw, they made it a two-point game. He’s coming down, he doesn’t need to rush, he’s lining up. That’s the thing, we’re working on those spacing situations, those shots. He’s working on those shots.” He’s not afraid of the big moments and that’s what we want from him. We wanted him to do it.”

As if the Lakers weren’t formidable enough, the Magic were down three starters: All-Star Paolo Banchero and Wendell Carter Jr. was injured and played on the second night as Kentaious Caldwell-Pope gave birth to her family’s fifth child. A back-to-back game against a team that hasn’t lost at home.

But with a little luck and a lot of Franz, Magic caught up with the Lakers.

“I couldn’t be happier for this team, but I was happier to see this come down for him, who has done such an incredible job,” Mosley said. “This group, they fight. They fought the whole match and I can’t say enough about this group, I can’t say enough about Franz.”

Lakers’ Davis, who scored 39 points, had four opportunities to secure the victory in the last 30 seconds. While the score was 117-114, Wagner made a three-point try from the front. Davis made one of two free throws for a four-point lead. Wagner then went to the basket and increased the lead to two points. With 18 seconds left, AD had two more chances to put the game away and missed both foul shots.

“I was a little mad that I missed the first shot (the three-point shot), so I was happy to make another shot,” Wagner said in his postgame on-court interview.

Pairing with Davis, Jalen Suggs’ screen turned Cam Reddish to Wagner. Between your legs, between your legs, three steps back.

Ball game.

As Jalen Suggs sat at the microphone after the game, all he could do was laugh when asked to give his perspective on Wagner’s trio.

“I just looked at him and said, ‘Boog, you gotta hit it,'” Suggs said, smiling from ear to ear. “Man, he went to his bag, stepped back, shot the rainbow, and the rainbow went in. It’s like a movie moment.”

Wagner said he was just looking for the best shot and wasn’t determined to make the game-winning three-pointer.

“They were pretty well set up, so I couldn’t see any driving lanes,” he said. “The previous one felt really good. You don’t think too much in those moments, but I think I made a good decision.

“You never want to settle for just one shot when you’re down two points, but the way they played me… I work a lot on my three-pointer off the dribble, and you work on that in those moments, too. I did it with confidence and I felt really good.”

Wagner finished with a season-high 37 points (15 points in the fourth quarter) along with six rebounds, 11 assists and four steals.

Suggs scored 23 points with 5 three-pointers. Moe Wagner came off the bench to add a season-high 19 points.

Davis and James played with 70 points and 19 rebounds. Dalton Knecht had 17 points.

It was a long, happy flight home for the Magic, who improved to 10-7.

The Magic return home for a one-off game against the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night. Tip-off is set for 7pm ET at Kia Center.

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